All the way down the corridor after leaving the Young Duke’s study, Risideon endured the sharp sting of stares from every direction.
“…Didn’t he go off to be the Crown Prince’s swordsmanship instructor? Why is he back?”
“How would I know? He cut off all contact with the duchy for ages… and now the man who dragged the ducal house’s name through the mud has the nerve to just waltz back in.”
“Does he even know that the Arachrene family became a laughingstock? That they’re no better than anyone else now?”
The whispers floated around him, but Risideon walked on as though he heard nothing at all.
This kind of treatment had been inevitable from the moment he chose to take the Empress’s hand.
For the heir of House Arachrene to personally bow his head to the Imperial family — it was nothing short of scandalous.
“Young Master Risideon.”
“…It’s been a while, Seymour.”
The person waiting for him the moment he stepped out of the Young Duke’s castle was none other than Seymour.
Seymour now served as Arcmund’s aide, but his original post had been as Risideon’s personal knight.
“I’ve come to escort you.”
“You don’t need to do that anymore. You’re not my knight.”
“…You’ve returned to the duchy. It’s only natural that I attend to you. His Grace has permitted it as well.”
Risideon walked straight past Seymour without a word.
Seymour followed quietly behind him, and after a moment, he spoke.
“I’m glad you’ve come home, my lord.”
“…”
“Pay no mind to those who chatter without knowing a thing.”
No answer came, but years of experience told Seymour that Risideon was listening.
He might appear cold on the surface, but among all the heirs of the family, Risideon was the one who was most keenly aware of the people around him.
It had taken Seymour a very long time to learn that, of course.
After so long apart, Seymour found his step unusually light.
“You haven’t heard any news from the house yet, have you? The Young Duke has announced he’ll attend the Crown Prince’s investiture ceremony. You really should see the look on the elders’ faces — completely dumbstruck, the lot of them—”
“…What did you say?”
Risideon, who had been ignoring Seymour entirely as he made his way toward his own quarters, stopped for the first time.
Seymour tilted his head, puzzled.
“Is something the matter?”
“…Father will be attending the Crown Prince’s investiture ceremony?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
Seymour nodded readily in confirmation, and for the first time, something shifted in Risideon’s expression — a flicker of emotion breaking through the blank mask he’d been wearing.
⁂
All the way to the Young Duke’s study, Riersha could not contain the flutter in her chest.
It was because Sona had told her the news about Risideon.
“They say Young Master Risideon returned in the early hours of the morning. I heard he went to see the Young Duke not long ago, so if you’re lucky, you might run into him.”
An older brother she had never once laid eyes on — and she might finally meet him!
She was excited at the thought of their first meeting, and yet, at the same time, she couldn’t help but worry.
What if he doesn’t like me?
The closer she got to the Young Duke’s study, the more that thought crept up on her, slow and unsettling.
She knew very well that she wasn’t an entirely welcome presence to every member of the family.
Riersha didn’t know exactly why Risideon had been absent from the duchy, but she suspected there was a reason he couldn’t speak of.
If only Father had held his ground more firmly back then — none of it would have happened.
That was why Riersha couldn’t let herself feel only excitement at the prospect of meeting her eldest brother.
On top of that, the murmuring of the servants she’d overheard all the way to the study weighed heavily on her.
“They say the eldest young master returned before dawn?”
“What face does he have, setting foot in this house again.”
Riersha walked on with an air of studied indifference, ears practically perked up, her nose crinkling slightly.
He’s coming home after years away, and everyone’s reaction is this cold?
If Risideon heard these things, she thought, he would be hurt.
The servants’ conversation continued uninterrupted. Because there was a child nearby, no one was bothering to guard their words, and so Riersha was able to take in the whole of it without any trouble.
“He’s been the Crown Prince’s swordsmanship instructor for well over two years now — at this point, doesn’t it make more sense to say he’s fully gone over to the Empress’s side?”
“Who knows whether Risideon was getting his own orders from the Empress? He cut off all contact the moment he left the family.”
Riersha’s expression hardened.
No. That can’t be right. Everyone’s just misunderstanding.
She wanted to shout it in front of all of them — that it was absolutely not like that.
It couldn’t be.
Because if Risideon were truly a traitor — on the night House Arachrene had been destroyed, the night the Imperial army had come crashing through their doors — Ricador would never have been able to abandon his post to come and save Riersha.
Risideon, who knew House Arachrene better than anyone, would never have allowed such an opening.
…I wonder if Risideon oppa is all right.
If these words had reached her ears, they had surely reached his as well.
Riersha was just drifting into her thoughts when —
“…Is this supposed to be a letter of apology?”
Pernoa, who had been looking over the letter of apology Riersha had just handed him a moment ago, paused and murmured to himself.
“…I’m fairly certain I asked you to write a letter of apology, Riersha.”
“It ith a refwection wetter!”
Riersha snapped back to attention and declared this with great confidence.
The letter was covered in colorful little star drawings, and in large, proud lettering, the words Riersha’s Wish Coupon were written — not once, not twice, but three times.
Rosinante, who had been eyeing the letter sideways, pressed his lips together as the corners of his mouth twitched visibly. Unable to laugh aloud in this setting, he appeared to be biting down on the inside of his cheek.
“…A wish.”
Pernoa studied Riersha with an expression of undisguised amusement.
There was no one else in all the world bold enough to tell the Young Duke of Arachrene that they would grant him a wish.
“Tell me what you’re offering.”
“Umm, I can make you a fwower bwacewet, and I can also rub your shouwders.”
“Weren’t you going to do those things anyway?”
“…Oh, more?”
Riersha flinched slightly and rolled her red eyes around in a slow, helpless circle.
Come to think of it, she had completely forgotten about the bracelet she was supposed to make for Pernoa. There had simply been too much happening.
At the mention of the flower bracelet, a flicker of something unpleasant passed through Pernoa’s memory, and his hand tensed briefly.
For reference, Arcmund had been wearing the bracelet Riersha made for him every single day without exception. Given that it hadn’t wilted despite the time that had passed, it seemed she must have placed some kind of permanent preservation charm on it.
“More.”
“More?”
Pernoa, clearly in a petulant mood, indicated that what she’d offered wasn’t enough and told her to keep going. Riersha’s chin scrunched up into a determined little pout.
Her lips pushed forward in concentration as she thought hard.
“Mooore…. Hmmm.”
“Riersha. Whose daughter are you?”
Even as Pernoa posed the question, his gaze hadn’t moved from the letter of apology. He was in the middle of reading the rather thorough set of instructions explaining that the wish coupon could only be redeemed after being cut along the dotted line and stamped with Riersha’s heart seal.
After all, wasn’t it better to thoroughly read through all the terms and conditions ahead of time, to avoid any complications later on?
At the sudden and seemingly unrelated question of whose daughter she was, Riersha answered as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.
“Daddy’s.”
“That’s right. So then, who’s the first person you should bring something like this to in the future?”
“…Daddy?”
Riersha answered as if in a trance, and at that, Pernoa’s lips curved upward into a deeply satisfied arc.
“Exactly.”
Pernoa announced that he would be holding onto the wish coupons for the time being and tucked the letter of apology into his desk drawer.
“For now, go and bring me that flower bracelet.”
“Huh?”
“We need to be precise about this. That one was something you were already going to give me, so it doesn’t count toward the coupons.”
Riersha’s mouth fell open.
For a moment, she felt as though she had gotten a brief, unflattering glimpse at the colder side of the world.
Rosinante had just schooled his expression into something appropriately aloof at Pernoa’s rather childish display when he noticed a second sheet of paper still in Riersha’s hand.
“By the way, that looks like the same thing — there are two of them?”
“That’s right.”
“Whose is the other one?”
Pernoa was equally curious; his eyes hadn’t left it either.
Riersha broke into a radiant smile.
